The Monks
by Lauren Wagner
Summary: Kurt is raised by monks


Brother Vogel was a monk from a monastery near the village of Winzledorf. He was a young man, serious in his holy duties. He was everyone's favorite monk, due to his kind and gentle manner with every living creature in the world.  
  
He had been collecting some herbs for the infirmary when some of the berries he was picking popped and stained his fingers purple. He went over to a nearby river, which was fed by a waterfall a few miles away.  
  
Stooping over, he dipped his hands into the cold water and he started to wash off the juice from his hands.  
  
That's when he heard the beginnings of a child crying. The sound sputtered for a moment, and then it started to wail and cry for mother's milk and care. Lifting his head, Brother Vogel looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.  
  
Finally, he found a tiny basket on the side of the river further down, its further travel having been stopped by a tree branch that stretched over the water. Wading into the water, Brother Vogel picked up the basket and brought over to the land before he sat down and pulled the blankets away to see the child inside.  
  
He couldn't help but gasp softly when he saw the tiny blue furry face that was waiting inside. The child looked like a demon, with glowing eyes and spaded tail.  
  
Slowly, Brother Vogel took the child out of the basket and he held it in his arms, rocking it slowly to hush it as he thought about what to do with him. The child soon fell silent, staring up at him as it sucked on its tail tip lightly. Brother Vogel smiled, and he knew that he was going to bring the child back to the monastery, even if it looked demonic. Looks were always deceiving.  
  
But he was worried about what Brother Zimmer would say to the Abbot when he returned with him. If it was up to Brother Zimmer, the Inquisition would still be in effect, and anyone who wasn't Christian was condemned to the foulest bowels of Hell on sight alone.  
  
Brother Zimmer would definitely have something to say about this child coming into the monastery, but Brother Vogel was not going to just leave him here to perish from exposure. He would just take the child to the Abbot right away, before Brother Zimmer could get to him first and try to talk him into sending the child to its death.  
  
Placing the child back into the basket, Brother Vogel slung his bag of herbs over one shoulder and held the basket in both arms as he headed back home.  
  
***  
Brother Zimmer saw Brother Vogel and the child first and ran right to the Abbot.  
  
"The child is an abomination!" he said. "I saw it with my own eyes, Father Abbot. It had eyes that glowed and it even has tail and fur! Brother Vogel has brought a thing of evil into our holy sanctuary!" Before Abbot Zelig could say anything, Brother Vogel showed, holding the child in a small bundle of cloth in his arms.  
  
"This place is a holy sanctuary." He said. "The child is not a demon, and he needs us to protect him. I found him in the river, and it is most likely that the woman who gave birth to him was killed because of his looks.  
  
"She was probably killed because she was a witch and her child was a demon." Brother Zimmer countered. "Father Abbot, you cannot allow this [i]thing[/i] to live in the monastery with everyone else. It will make this place just as tainted as it clearly is."  
  
"The child is a he, Brother Zimmer." Brother Vogel pointed out calmly. "Not an it as you keep calling him. What would be the harm in taking him in and raising him in our Order?"  
  
"We would risk damnation from the Lord if we did!" Brother Zimmer said. Brother Vogel shook his head, holding the child out to Brother Zimmer. Brother Zimmer recoiled, as if Brother Vogel had offered him some kind of poison.  
  
"Look at him!" Brother Vogel insisted. "Does this look evil to you?" The child had been sleeping when he was brought into the Abbot's chambers. He woke up, murmuring softly as he looked around at everyone with his golden eyes. He looked up at the Abbot and laughed, holding out his hands to him.  
  
"Father Abbot..." Brother Zimmer started.  
  
"There is one way to see if the child is evil or not." Abbot Zelig said finally. Taking out his Rosary, Abbot Zelig held it out to the child, the metal Cross dangling in front of his tiny three-fingered hands. The child laughed and grabbed the Cross, putting it into his mouth and gurgling up at the three men.  
  
"There is your proof, Brother Zimmer." Abbot Zelig said, smiling as he let the child keep the Rosary to play with. "He did not scream, did not wail, and he has not burst into flames. The child is clearly not a demon from Hell. Brother Vogel, I expect to take care of him and raise him properly." He added.  
  
"I will, Father Abbot." Brother Vogel nodded. Abbot Zelig smiled and nodded a bit.  
  
"I know you will. Now if you'll excuse, I will get the baptism ready for tonight."  
  
Brother Zimmer watched Brother Vogel leave in anger, clenching his fists at his side tightly. That child would be trouble for them, and he was going to prove it one way or another!  
  
***  
The child was christened Kurt Willibald, after Saint Willibald. He grew up to prove Brother Vogel right, being one of the most peaceful members of their Order. He grew up handsome, his high cheekbones and aristocratic nose giving a kind of hint as to his lineage, despite the fact that he was blue with deformed hands and feet with a prehensile tail that ended in a spade.  
  
One of his closet friends was a boy who was brought in at the age of seven, the same age as himself at the time. The boy was Christian Vollehen, and the two became close friends after they were assigned the same dorm room.  
  
Kurt learned early to stay away from Brother Zimmer. He learned this the hard way, acquiring a small scar on his right hand from being hit with a wispy switch for trying to help him gather carrots from the garden. Brother Zimmer became bitter every day he saw Kurt in the monastery. He tried all he could to prove Kurt a demon, even go so far to taking something from others rooms and placing them in Kurt's rooms.  
  
His plan backfired however, due to Kurt's reaction to being accused of stealing from the brothers. Instead of shouting and denying it, Kurt returned the things, saying that even though he did not remember taking these things, he was sorry for any kind of trouble he had caused. Everyone accepted this, and Kurt was only put on a week's fasting, which he went through with ease.  
  
When Brother Zimmer tried to plant things on Kurt again, Christian caught him and he was given two weeks forced fasting for trying to hurt Kurt's reputation.  
  
Brother Zimmer was starting to think that nothing would make the Abbot throw Kurt out in disgrace, or make him hated by the other brothers.  
  
If he was going to get rid of Kurt, he needed to go to the common people in the village nearby. If they had been able to kill Kurt's mother, then they would need to finish the job and kill the mother as well.  
  
***  
He ran into the village, his habit torn and ripped apart as he shouted for help. When the people ran up to help him, he said that a demon had invaded the monastery, sending him away because he was the only one who tried to fight him off. He said that everyone in there had become corrupt and were servants to the demon who would try to take over the village and enslave its people soon enough.  
  
The people got ready for war.  
  
***  
Kurt didn't understand what was going on.  
  
It was time for afternoon meditation and prayer when he and the others heard people outside of the gates, screaming for the demon's release into their hands. Christian quickly took him and they hid in the attic just as the people charged into the monastery, holding the monks captive and screaming for them to release their demon leader.  
  
Kurt had tried to run out when he heard them beating Brother Vogel, but Christian immediately grabbed him and pulled him back.  
  
"Don't go out there!" he said. "They'll kill you if you do!"  
  
"They're going to kill the Brothers!" Kurt cried.  
  
"We have to stay here!" Christian insisted, despite the fact that both he and Kurt were starting to sob as they heard the mob smashing and breaking whatever they found, telling the Brothers to hand over the demon before they killed someone else.  
  
Abbot Zelig tried to talk to them, telling them that there was no demon here and that they needed to leave this holy place before they tainted it with their violence and murder.  
  
They tortured him to death in front of the monks, shoving stained glass into his eyes and under his fingernails before death released him.  
  
The people said that if the demon was not handed over soon, they would burn the whole monastery down with the monks inside. They refused however, praying to drown out the angry shouts and screaming from their brothers who were being killed.  
  
Kurt rocked back and forth, held tightly in Christian's arms as he sobbed, telling him to please let him go and end this.  
  
"If the Brothers didn't care, they would have told them where you are!" Christian said. "Please, Kurt!"  
  
"I have to stop this! Who else looks like a demon here, Christian?" Kurt asked. He slipped out of Christian's grasp and he got to his feet, opening the door to the attic.  
  
"Kurt, they'll kill you if you go down there!" Christian said helplessly. Kurt turned around, wiping away his own tears before he wiped away his best friend's.  
  
"This is all my fault, Christian." He said softly. "They've killed my father, the Abbot, and others because of the way [i]I[/i] look. I need to give myself up to save this place. If that means I'm going to die, so be it."  
  
"I don't want you to go." Christian said, blinking rapidly to stop himself from crying again. Kurt was quiet, looking at his friend sadly. Reaching into the pocket in his habit, he pulled out the Rosary Abbot Zelig had used to prove that he wasn't a demon. Taking Christian's hand, he closed it over the beads with his own hand over it.  
  
"Pray for me." He said, looking at him quietly. Sniffling, Christian nodded, looking down at their hands.  
  
"I will." He whispered. Kurt's tail snaked up and gently tilted his head up, and Kurt titled his head to one side, smiling at him warmly.  
  
"It'll be all right, [i]mein freund[/i]." He said softly. With that, he turned around and left the room, slipping the hood of his habit over his head. Christian fell to his knees and bowed his head, praying for his friend.  
  
One of the stronger men had one of the Brothers by the throat, screaming in his face where was the demon when Kurt walked down the last step and cleared his throat loudly.  
  
"Let him go." He said. "I am the one you are looking for, but I am not a demon. I am a man, just as you are." He pulled back his hood and showed them what he looked like.  
  
He was grabbed with rough and angry hands and he was dragged out of the monastery and brought back to the village.  
  
***  
The Brothers were unable to leave their ransacked monastery until the next day, where they worked on burying their dead and trying to clean up the mess the people had caused.  
  
Christian took it upon himself to go and see what had happened to Kurt the night before.  
  
He dressed in normal clothes and took a strong knife with him to the village, having a feeling that he would need to use it on something or someone.  
  
He was right.  
  
Christian stood helplessly in the center of the village, staring up at the destroyed thing that had once been alive and full of love and compassion for his fellow Brothers and people.  
  
They had tortured Kurt with no mercy, burning him with hot irons, and whipping him with metal tipped whips. His fangs were ripped out with pliers, flooding his mouth with blood as they smashed in the rest of his teeth. His feet and hands were smashed with hammers and bound with barbed wire, nearly taking off his hands from how deep it was cutting into his flesh.  
  
Salt was poured into all of his wounds, including his eyes, which they held open to make sure they were covered in the substance.  
  
They cut his tail off lastly and forced him to go down the streets until he reached the center of the village, all the while asking God to forgive them and the man who told them these lies about him, suspecting that it was Brother Zimmer in his heart and soul.  
  
They finally killed him by hanging him by his tail and leaving his remains for the birds to peck at them.  
  
Christian ignored the looks the people gave him and he gently untied Kurt's tail from the tree and carried him back to the monastery where they buried him in the garden where they planted Bluebells around his grave and tombstone.  
  
***  
Brother Zimmer had his revenge, but it would have been Kurt who got the final justice. Brother Zimmer was walking through the forests when he heard a bird shriek overhead. He looked up sharply while still walking, and before he could stop himself, he fell down a waterfall and was dashed on the jagged rocks below.  
  
The bird was a Blue Jay. 


End file.
